The Road to Freedom
by outragedrainbows
Summary: Zack survives the ambush by Shinra troops and continues his journey to Midgar with Cloud. His idealistic plans for himself, Cloud and Aerith are soon torn apart by Shinra. With Hojo at the center of Shinra's schemes, Zack and Cloud find themselves struggling to cope with the past while they hunt down the man that ruined their lives. Cloti, Zerith.


A short first chapter, but it felt like the right place to end it. The following chapters will be longer.

Hope you enjoy~

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There was one left now. Only one. Zack didn't have the strength to fight back anymore. Pain and exhaustion combined to render him helpless. He could hear the last soldier coming towards him, death itself creeping closer. Midgar was so close now, he and Cloud had almost made it. He couldn't bear to watch the Shinra troop advance. He couldn't check to make sure Cloud had survived either, for fear of giving away the catatonic man's position. He felt rain begin to fall and his attention shifted to the sky.

His view of the sky was soon obscured by the barrel of a gun. The Shinra troop hesitated, whether out of pity, or desire to prolong Zack's suffering, Zack couldn't tell. He wished he had made it further, gotten Cloud somewhere safe and spoken to Aerith one last time. He thought of her 'last letter'. She'd let him go, after four years. It couldn't have been that long. Zak couldn't believe it had been that long.

The Shinra soldier readied his gun, carefully taking aim. The noise of his movements snapped Zack's focus back to the harsh reality. Zack froze. He couldn't tear his eyes from the gun. The sudden explosion of noise from the gun made Zack gasp, but he felt no pain. He watched in confusion as the soldier fell to his knees and then onto the muddy ground. Zack winced as he raised his head slightly to see who had shot the soldier. A thrill of shock swept through him, which was soon replaced by relief when he saw Cloud holding one of the dead soldier's guns.

Cloud was lying on the cold, rain soaked ground, shaking for a multitude of reasons, like the cold, the shock of killing and the pain left by mako poisoning. His body felt foreign to him, having not had proper control for a long time. He tried to push himself up, but his weak, sore limbs quickly gave up and he dropped to the ground with a muddy splash. He had to get to Zack in any way possible. He began to crawl through the muck slowly. It was all made harder as his arms sunk each time he pulled himself forward, slipping on the soaked earth and finding little purchase, but he slowly made his way over to his friend. Cloud was shaken by the amount of blood around and on Zack.

'Z-Zack…' Cloud's own voice sounded strange to him. He hadn't spoken in months. Zack raised his arm and put his hand on the back of Cloud's head.

'Hey…look…it's so close' Zack motioned towards Midgar as he spoke.

'It's not safe there…' Cloud's words were slurred, but still understandable. 'They sent so many after us…and we'd be marching right to them.'

'_You_ might…be able to march-' Zack started with a lopsided smirk

'Zack.' Cloud stopped him. Zack's smirk soon disappeared and was replaced with a more serious expression.

'I need to see Aerith.'

'You need to rest somewhere. You need a doctor…' Cloud was becoming more confident in his revived abilities of movement and speech. He didn't know why he had had this sudden miraculous recovery from his poisoning, but it was welcomed.

'No more doctors and needles and labs.' Zack groaned. Cloud understood his fear, he felt it too. 'We'll be safe enough in the slums. Shinra's only really worried about everything above the plate.'

Cloud was about to respond but the words died in his throat as he heard the faint sound of a distant helicopter. His eyes went wide. _Please…no more_.

'Sounds like we need to move…' Zack broke the silence between them. He started to push himself up and tried to ignore the burning pain from his various injuries.

'Are you sure you can?'

'Think…we have a choice, Spiky?' Zack spoke through gritted teeth. The noise was getting louder now. Cloud put his arm around Zack and supported him, despite his own shaky legs. The two stumbled, occasionally tripping, towards the nearest rock that could hide them from the Shinra. Cloud tried to calm his breathing as panic slowly swelled within him. His own heavy breathing, the pouring rain, the thunderous sound of the approaching helicopter all combined into a deafening crescendo that threatened to make him scream. He glanced at Zack who seemed controlled. Cloud found himself wishing once again he was like Zack, a proud, brave, first class SOLDIER.

'Right…It's gone.' Zack snapped Cloud out of his trance. 'Let's move, Spiky.' Cloud simply nodded.

The two made their way to the expansive technological titan of a city, Cloud supporting Zack the entire way. Neither man voiced their worry of an ambush by soldiers, or the possible return of the Shinra helicopter. Both men remained silent as they trudged forward. Hope was building in both of them that this nightmare might end, that their new lives may be starting.

Cloud hadn't seen much of the slums when he worked at Shinra. The slums were cold, damp and dull. There was no life to be found in this place even though many people wandered the makeshift paths and dirt trails. The upper plate and the slums really were worlds apart. Cloud looked up at the plate and his head spun. It was astonishing, but for all the wrong reasons. The huge structure blocked out the sky and left the world below bathed in constant artificial light. Cloud felt as though it was pressing down on him, closing in. In the back of his mind he wondered what would happen if it fell.

Cloud was pulled from his morbid musings as he felt a weight pulling him down. Zack slumped, the arm around Cloud's shoulder going limp. Cloud struggled to support all of Zack's weight and soon ended up laying Zack on the ground and kneeling beside him. He shook his friend, called his name but the older man remained unresponsive. He called for help, but the people of the slums ignored him. Cloud didn't notice the looks of disgust and mild amusement on their faces when they saw the SOLDIER uniforms. His head was spinning. The slums were getting darker. He wanted to scream. He wanted to shout at Zack for trying to leave him now, after everything they'd been through. He wanted to beg him to stay, but instead, all sound and light faded from the world and he knew no more.


End file.
